lib-ir: Fwd: On open access

[Carol Hixson <chixson@darkwing.uoregon.edu>]

This is a wordy message but it has some good information
in it relating to the open-access movement.

Carol


>Friends:
>
>[The following has been posted by the Electronic Publishing Trust for
>Development on March 19, 2004, to the Health Information Forum sponsored
>by the WHO (HIF-net)]
>
>Recent messages have shown that the concept of Open Access is now beginning
>to be more widely understood and earlier misconceptions dispelled. We have
>responded individually to correspondents, but feel it would be helpful to
>provide further information to the general list.
>For some time, the Electronic Publishing Trust for Development has been
>promoting the importance of the open access movement for the strengthening
>of the science base in developing countries. The EPT web site
>(<http://www.epublishingtrust.org>http://www.epublishingtrust.org) now 
>contains much information on open
>access, particularly as it relates to developing countries. Additionally the
>Bioline International web site 
>(<http://www.bioline.org.br>http://www.bioline.org.br) contains the full
>text of some 28 journals published in developing countries, free to all.
>These journals contain much research of medical significance and so are of
>interest to this list. In order that developing countries are also part of
>the open access evolution, Bioline International has set up an Open Access
>Archive (bioline.utsc.utoronto.ca) specifically for developing country
>publishers. Much of the material on the main Bioline International site is
>now also archived in a way that is compatible with the open access search
>engines and so interoperable with the increasing numbers of Archives being
>established around the world.
>
>Institutional archiving was one of two routes recommended by the
>Soros-supported Budapest Open Access Initiative (1). As well as freeing
>research literature from the crippling toll-access situation, it also
>promotes the research output of all contributing institutes. The
>establishment of institutional archives in the developing countries ensures
>that their national research becomes mainstream and contributes on an equal
>footing to the global knowledge pool.
>
>It is important to understand that open access Institutional Archives
>contain already reviewed and published research papers. Quality is
>unaffected. Scientists can continue to publish in their preferred refereed
>journals, merely archiving the already published papers in their
>institutional archives, simultaneously or subsequently. Approaching 60% of
>publishers (including Nature publisher and Elsevier) allow simultaneous
>archiving to take place. The remainder seem likely to follow, or accept
>institutional archiving a few months after the primary publication.
>Publishers now recognise that this will not affect their sales - as has been
>clearly demonstrated by the physics communities' archive, 
><http://arxiv.org>http://arxiv.org,
>which has existed side by side with prestigious physics journals for more
>than 10 years now.
>
> From the point of view of authors, it is already shown that the visibility
>and impact of open access published papers is greatly increased (2). This is
>the ultimate aim of scientific publishing and leads to the establishment of
>important research partnerships with fellow scientists in their field. The
>professional isolation felt by many scientists in developing countries is
>overcome. Open access archives can be established at almost no cost, or
>institutes may use an already-established archive. All software is free of
>charge and there is much technical help available to institutes (see below).
>This is therefore a highly appropriate route for developing country
>institutes to follow, and great strides are already being made. India is
>planning its second OA workshop and has a series of institute meetings
>planned (3); OA workshops are also planned this summer in Brasil and China
>to raise awareness and transfer technical support.
>
>The alternative BOAI route to open access is via the establishment of OA
>journals, the route followed by BioMedCentral, PubMedCentral and others.
>This route is likely to take longer to accomplish, but is making an
>important contribution to the freeing of research literature from
>unaffordable subscription charges. Again, quality of publications is firmly
>maintained.
>
>Attached, below, is a list of sites showing a) papers on OA developments, b)
>the growing international support for this endeavour, c) activities already
>underway in the developing world and technical information, such as access
>to the free software for the establishment of interoperable archives and a
>FAQ answering many common misunderstandings.
>
>The connectivity problem is gradually being overcome, as shown by the
>message from Najeeb Al-Shorbaji (shorbajin@emro.who.int), and it is
>important that developing countries are part of the information evolution
>now underway. The message from Dr.Vinod Scaria (drvinod@hotpop.com) shows
>how fast things are beginning to move and how the impact of OA publications
>is encouraging publishers, authors and their institutes. The problem of
>language (upieks@fetp.org) remains and should be the main focus of
>development once access problems are resolved.
>
>We hope the following links are of value to list readers. If further
>information or help is required, please contact us.
>
>Barbara Kirsop, EPT Secretariat, UK, barbara@biostrat.demon.co.uk
>
>Leslie Chan, Trustee EPT, Bioline International, Canada,
>chan@utsc.utoronto.ca
>
>Subbiah Arunachalam, Trustee EPT, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, India
>arun@mssrf.res.in
>
>(1). Soros Budapest Open Access Initiative
><http://www.soros.org/openaccess/>http://www.soros.org/openaccess/
>(2). S. Lawrence paper in Nature, 411(6387):521, 2002 'Free online
>availability substantially increases a paper's impact'
><http://www.neci.nec.com/~lawrence/papers/online-nature01/>http://www.neci.nec.com/~lawrence/papers/online-nature01/ 
>
>(3) 'India's march towards open access', Subbiah Arunachalam, recent
>SciDevNet paper 
><http://www.scidev.net/Opinions/index.cfm?fuseaction=readOpinions&itemid=243&language=1>http://www.scidev.net/Opinions/index.cfm?fuseaction=readOpinions&itemid=243&language=1 
>
>
>a) SOME INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS TO THE OPEN ACCESS MOVEMENT
>
>World Summit for the Information Society
>Declaration of Principles 3,28 and Plan of Action C3i and 22d
><http://www.wsis.org>http://www.wsis.org
>
>Wellcome Trust Statement of Support for OA
><http://www.wellcome.ac.uk>http://www.wellcome.ac.uk
>
>Berlin Declaration (signed by many research institutes in Germany, France
>and other EU countries)
><http://www.zim.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html>http://www.zim.mpg.de/openaccess-berlin/berlindeclaration.html 
>
>
>American Research Libraries, SPARC statement and guidelines
><http://www.arl.org/sparc/>http://www.arl.org/sparc/
>
>b) DEVELOPING COUNTRY OA INITIATIVES AND PAPERS
>
>Bioline International main web site (Brazil/Canada non-profit initiative in
>support of developing country publishers)
><http://www.bioline.org.br>http://www.bioline.org.br
>
>Indian Institute of Science OA server
><http://www.iisc.ernet.in/>http://www.iisc.ernet.in/
>
>Bangalore OA workshop 2003
><http://www.ias.ac.in/epubworkshop/curriculum.html>http://www.ias.ac.in/epubworkshop/curriculum.html 
>
>
>L Chan, B Kirsop, 'Impact of OA on developing country science', Ariadne, 30,
>2001
><http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue30/oai-chan>http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue30/oai-chan 
>
>
>Open Access Now Interview of Subbiah Arunachalam
><http://www.biomedcentral.com/openaccess/archive/?page=features&issue=11>http://www.biomedcentral.com/openaccess/archive/?page=features&issue=11 
>
>
>c) FREE OA DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE AND SUPPORT SERVICES
>
>OA archives information and support
><http://www.eprints.org>http://www.eprints.org
>
>Frequently Asked Question on OA
><http://www.eprints.org/self-faq/>http://www.eprints.org/self-faq/
>
>Handbook for setting up eprints servers
><http://www.eprints.org/handbook/>http://www.eprints.org/handbook/
>
>OAIster search service
><http://www.oaister.org/>http://www.oaister.org/
>
>Directory of Open Access Journals
><http://www.curl.ac.uk/about/isca.html>http://www.curl.ac.uk/about/isca.html
>
>___________________________________________
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